Le Joie de Vivre!

Yesterday, I decided to be brave and take all three boys to the beach. We had a wonderful time!

Bon Anniversaire Thomas and James!!

Everyone loves San Francisco!

Philip warmed up to Cass and Scott

James was king of the mountain.

Charlie and Philip finally meet!

We love Aunt Cassidy!

Philip is already asking for the keys.

Uncle Mike was a gem. He played with the boys nonstop.

Feeding baby cows with a ginormous bottle

Brave little James went down the zipline.

My mom was amused that the boys went right to the gorillas "milks" and tried to get something to come out!

Deeply concerned about a baby bird that fell from the nest.

What could be more exciting than a key and a padlock?

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Liz were so sweet to the boys.

Thomas and James are four today!! They are celebrating with Nick in the Magic Kingdom and I am home enjoying Philip and missing them.
July has been fabulous. We spent two weeks in Utah visiting family and had so much fun. Highlights for the boys were riding in Uncle Mikes Ferrari cars, swimming at Grandpa Buehner's pool and driving the power wheels at Grandma Calls. They haven't stopped talking about how much they loved Utah!
We had a little birthday celebration for the boys with the key and padlock cakes (thanks to my mom and Liz) that they requested. Thomas and James loved them. We visited the zoo, went boating at Bear Lake, celebrated great-grandpa Buehner's 80th birthday, went to the Buehner's condo in Heber and had fun hanging out with family and friends. My mom and Liz were so nice to fly back with us and help with the kids. It was so fun to have them here for a few days. Thanks for the fun trip. We miss all of you!

Fabulous Quote of the Day!

A beautiful day at my favorite beach - Capitola

We loved having my beautiful mom come visit us last week! She was so helpful and fun!

This is Prince Philip with his "twin" Lady Anabelle. We love her and her mom too!

Ladies, check out Elder Callister's article in the June issue of the Ensign! He says, "Women ought to be praised for all the gifts they possess - including their attentiveness to their personal appearance - that so unselfishly add to the richness of the lives of others." So next time I'm at the spa getting my nails done or spending extra time on my makeup, I will remind myself of what an unselfish good deed I am doing!

Does anyone else have a baby that just loves to be held more than anything in the world? I have to admit that I really love to taxi Philip around everywhere but I have been extra tired lately and unable to hold him all day. So, a little visit to the baby store has changed my life! I have to let everyone know about the Ergo baby carrier. It's amazing because I can hold Philip (he's well over 20 lbs.) on the front, hip or back for over three hours and it doesn't hurt at all (like the baby bjorn.) He loves it and will even nap in it.

Hooray!

Much to celebrate this week... Nick finished his last final Monday and is officially done with his first year of Law School!! Everyone tells us the first year is the hardest so it is wonderful to have it over and for Nick to have done well. Nick is excited to start working at Ellman Burke in San Francisco in a couple weeks. We are all excited to have him home until then!
Thomas and James are loving school. James has bonded with Teacher Katie and Thomas made me a special bead necklace at school this week. The boys were so excited to get a trampoline today. The 11 foot tramp takes up our entire backyard basically but it's totally worth it because we predict it will wear them out each day and make for an early bedtime.
Philip is now 6 months old! He is still very sweet and is rolling all over and sitting up well on his own. He is a strong little guy. He loves to watch his older brothers and they are so cute to play with him and help keep him happy. I finally got around to decorating his room. I love sailboats and had fun decorating his room with a nautical theme. It is bright and cheery and he loves the mobile above his bed.
I got a great job this week as a community advisor at Stanford. I am excited to get involved and plan student events next year.
We are loving our boys at the ages they are at right now and I almost wish I could freeze them at this age because they are so precious. Thomas and James are so clever and are always making me laugh. The other day at lunch I told them they could each have a prune for a treat (my boys are like little French women, no joke). Thomas said "I'm THREE years old. I need THREE prunes." I said, "Okay, you can each have three." Then James held up both hands and said, "But I have TEN fingers. I need TEN prunes!"
Don't worry... I did NOT give them ten!

Happy Birthday Grandma Call!

We all want to wish Grandma a very Happy Birthday!! I had visions of the boys smiling for Grandma in the picture but the boys had a very late night last night after going to a fun party and were very exhausted from preschool. All three went out for a nap within five minutes of taking the picture.

We Love Grandmas and Grandpas!

The past couple weeks have been so much fun for our family because we have been able to have both sets of grandparents come visit us! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family. Thomas and James loved having sleepovers at the hotel with Grandma and Grandpa, swimming, flying kites at the beach, Easter egg hunting and playing in the backyard. Philip was all smiles because he loves to be held.
We feel so fortunate that Thomas and James were able to start Rainbow preschool at Stanford this month. One goes each day for three hours and I have the other home with me. It has been so great to have one at school having fun and me home having one-on-one time with the other. (Philip usually naps for a good part of that time.) They love school and it makes it extra special for them to get to ride to school on Daddy's bike! Thomas and James now have backpacks to match Nicks. (James even requested a laptop with an apple on it to go in his backpack:) They love these backpacks and are actually wearing them in bed right now. I don't know if that's even safe but I'm happy they are liking school.